Jay Shidler talks about his new book Blonde Bomber: A Ride With Shide

Kentucky Wildcast legend Jay Shidler talks about his book Blonde Bomber and the years he spent at Kentucky during the championship run and an inside look at what it means to be a basketball icon.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
You're with NewsRadio eight forty whas Terryminers here, Happy Thanksgiving, people rolling
in all around from everywhere, gettogether, talk about their favorite times together.
You remember that time we went tothat game and this happen. That's
why I like talking to these athleteswho've been to the mountaintop. Jay Schidler's

(00:25):
one of them, a Kentucky Wildcatnational champion from years back. Nineteen seventy
eight, he wrote a book calledBlonde Bomber, A Ride with Shide.
I think we're about to take aride with Shide right now. Jay.
Welcome, Hey Jerry, how youdoing, Buddy? Good to have you
on, brother. Happy Thanksgiving,Hey, Happy Thanksgiving to you man.

(00:46):
I appreciate you having me on.No worries. What have you seen out
of this Kentucky team this year withoutthe big guys that you liked. Obviously
they lost to Kansas. Kansas lostlast night, by the way, But
you're seeing some progress with these guys. Oh yeah, I am. I
you know, I live in Illinoisnow, so I don't get I'm not

(01:07):
as connected as I was when Iwas still in Lexington. I've been in
Illinois for a couple of years,but I like the make up of this
year's team. Of course, they'reyoung. They've been young ever since Cal
got there. But uh, youknow, I like, you know,
I just like the way they play. I like the way they look.
You give them a little more time. I didn't get to see much of
the Kansas game, so I didn'trealize that they blew a fourteen point lead

(01:29):
and that sort of thing. Butyou know, hey, it's early in
the year. But you know,I like the way they play. I
like the way they look right now. Give them a little bit more time
to know each other and play witheach other and and uh, you know,
trying to figure out, you knowwhat what what everybody's doing. I
think they'll be pretty salty by thetime, you know, about time tournament

(01:49):
rolls around. I know some teamsdon't don't worry about having big guys,
but but Kentucky can thrive with theseguys that they have that are just outside
the playing realm right now. Butthey'll be here soon enough, you know,
Zee and Bradshaw, you know,and and uh, it's gonna it's
gonna change everything when they get somebigs in there. Oh yeah, sure,
you know, they won't have torely on on the outside so much,

(02:13):
and they'll be able to do somedifferent things, getting it down low
and kicking it back out if needto, you know, that sort of
thing. So it'll change their makeupa little bit. And and and uh
hopefully for a pot you know,for a positive, more positive look.
Indeed, you played for the greatJoe b. Hall. Blonde Bomber is
the name of your book. Soyou're covering those years you were at Kentucky.

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But obviously a lot of people wantto know about the championship season.
You had Roby and Phillips, youhad bigs in there, and then Kyle,
I mean, and James Lee.What was it like going up against
James Lee in practice? Uh?It was pretty tough at times, Terry,
But you know, uh I andI allude to it a little bit
in the book. The first littlekind of kind of situation I had with

(02:58):
James. I took some charging foulson him and practice a couple two or
three times down the court and earnedhis respect because if he thought of if
I was crazy enough to step overin front of him and take a charge,
then I can't be all bad,you know. But you know,
it was a great atmosphere for thatteam. It was a great team from

(03:21):
top to bottom. All thirteen guyson the team contributed and just a bunch
of class guys. I've never beenaround thirteen other classier individuals than those guys
on that team. And the pressurethat we were under to win the national
championship that year and then be ableto go through the season and the tournament
and end up winning it all meansa whole heck of a lot to us.

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And we're still close. We gettogether every five years or so and
have a nice reunion. And whata great bunch of guys, and what
an experience it was going through thatseason. And Jack Gibbons, you know,
just to have him as he's justthe best person and uh, I
know he's he's really fond of you. And it had to be fun to

(04:04):
be scrapping of those guys back inthe day in practice, but then to
get on the floor and and competethe way you guys did. Yeah,
I mean practices were not easy.Uh you know, we we we busted
each other and and and pushed eachother and and I think that that,
you know, just contributed to oursuccess. We didn't sit back on any

(04:26):
laurels or anything. Everybody was highschool, all Americans on the team,
and and Jack leading us. Uhand and you know, Kyle was the
missing link from the year before,coming in and and and and doing such
a great job that and being sucha great player that he was. It
was a joy to play with him. But uh, you know, the
experience with playing those guys, playingwith those guys, and and the competitiveness

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and in practice every single day wasjust unbelievable. But you know it it
it it toughens us up, andit made us better. And and and
we knew that, you know,we uh, if guys in our own
practices going to give us a hardtime, then you know, we were
ready for anything that came down thepike, basically, no doubt. And
Kentucky had not won a title intwenty years, and so people were thirsting

(05:12):
to get back to the top ofthe mountain. And then you guys delivered.
Yeah, I think everybody was chompingat the bit because it had been
twenty years since since they'd wanted andpeople were getting a little a little anxious
to say the least, you knowabout it. But we were able to,
you know, to come in anddo the job, and you know,
it was just I'm so proud tohave been a part of that team

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and a part of that program,and it was just something really really special.
Col's had a good run there,but people are again starting to feel
that thirst. It's like, dude, it's been too long, you know,
And so you know how it is. You're wellware even though you're an
Illinois boy, you know what theKentucky fan base demands. And ever since

(06:00):
really twenty fifteen, people still stillkeep jumping on Col. Well. The
game's changed so much and I thinkhe's kept up with it. It's a
matter of now you're dealing with Nil and right it just the transfer portal,
the whole thing has all just changedeverything. Give me your assessment of
what you're seeing now out of Cal'scoaching. You know, I like the

(06:24):
job he does. You know,when when when they were looking for somebody
to come in to take over forfor Gillespie, I had called I was
on the radio at that time andI had a little radio Sunday morning radio
show in Lexington, and I wasI was screaming two years prior, you
know, to go go get Caliperifrom you know, from Memphis, and

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I was glad to see him comein here. I just thought it was
you he was you know, hewas young, still young at the time,
and he could handle the press.He knew how to handle the media,
and he was just full of thatfire that the Kentucky program needed at
that time. And he's done agreat job. There's you know, there's
there's no question. But I thinkhe's won one national championship, probably had
a chance to win a couple ofmore. But you know, it's so

(07:05):
tough nowadays. The talent across thecountry is just not in your top eight,
ten, twelve schools that it usedto be. There's talent all over
the place. So but people likeyou said, you know, people are
anxious back there. It's been elevenyears and going on twelve years now,
and you know they won a championshipevery year. That's not going to happen,

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of course, but you know that'swhat they expect, and I know
Cal knows that and he's had tohe's had to combat that, you know,
in the off season when when theyhaven't gone as far as people expected
them to go. But you know, it's the game has changed so much
and it's so tough to get toa final four to win a national championship

(07:47):
nowadays. But you know, Ithink he's going to get another one in
the next few years. If it'snot this year, you know, pretty
close. But we'll wait and see. But you know, I you know,
just giving giving giving credit for whathe's done and give him a little
time to, you know, toget these guys rented into shape and might

(08:09):
be a little different, different tuneat the end of the season. I
think. So when these bigs getin here, the complexion, the whole
thing's going to change and we'll feelit. Hey, one last question for
you. Obviously you got drafted whoby the Bulls? The Yeah, the
Bulls drafted me in nineteen eighty ninthround draft pick. What do you think
when you hear these guys today thatthey take days off, they have rest

(08:31):
days. And I know when youyou have to laugh at this when you
think about your practice regimen at Kentuckyand just the demands on guys in your
era, right, I don't understandit, Terry. I mean, they're
getting paid far more than they probablydeserve. And to say that they need
a day off or that they youknow, they need some time off.

(08:56):
I mean, yeah, they're goingto get tired, they get beat up
on, you know, the nightout. But h that's what they're supposed
to do, you know. Andthat's why they're getting paid the money that
they're getting paid. And people peoplepay good money to go see them play.
And if they set out a gameand and here, maybe I've got
a son, you know that's neverseen some of these guys playing. I
take him to the game and hisfavorite player is not playing. You know,

(09:18):
it's a little disappointing. So Idon't know how they can dial that
back a little bit. I don'tsee that happening, but it is kind
of it's pretty frustrating to see themtake the easy road, so to speak.
Nowadays. All right, Lebron crossedthe thirty nine thousand point mark last
night. Is it Lebron or MJWho's the greatest? Who's the goat Jordan?

(09:41):
No doubt? Okay, no doubt. These guys, those guys now
today, you know, these daysLebron staph Durant, those kind of guys,
I don't I don't think they wouldhave would have held up too well
back in the the early eighties andand nineties and playing with guys like Moses

(10:03):
Malone and and and Robert Parrish andand gowing up against those guys that didn't
take any flat, you know,and and uh, these guys nowadays,
they've been crying the whole game.Jay Seidler, it's great to hear from
you. Your book is called BlondeBomber, A Ride with Shide, And
where can people find it? It'sit's it's on Amazon. You can get

(10:26):
it on the Amazon book door.It's it's a good read, Terry.
And we did a really good jobof covering everything in my life up to
just a couple of years ago.So it's, you know, it's a
great story. It's it's uh,it's a redemption story, so to speak.
And I you know, I've hadnothing but good comments and good good
things said about it the people thathave read it. So uh, I

(10:48):
recommend to get it, of course, and and I think most most everybody
will enjoy the read. Yeah,good stocking stuff. And for Kentucky fans
for sure. Thanks Bud, appreciategood talking to you. Make it Terry,
Thanks for giving me buddy. Igot your brother Jay Scheidler in Illinois.
His book is called blonde Bomber,a ride with Shide. He,
of course, was on the nineteenseventy eight Kentucky Wildcat and National Championship team